


where is a broken dove to go

by sapphicish



Category: Wentworth (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post 8x06, me holding every unloved character on wentworth: i just think they're neat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26248552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphicish/pseuds/sapphicish
Summary: After her torture, Marie finds strange companionship in Lou and Reb in the middle of the night.
Relationships: Lou Kelly/Reb Keane, Marie Winter & Lou Kelly
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	where is a broken dove to go

**Author's Note:**

> i dont know the layout or the facilities of any cell block in this show and im at peace with that

Marie spent the night curled up in a ball and tucked away beneath her sheets, staring at the wall directly ahead of her. Her throat was sore and it ached to swallow, and every time she did her head pounded in awful symphony with the rest of her. Sometimes when she closed her eyes she could see Allie, feel the grasp of Boomer's arm around her neck, see them all staring down at her, see Allie again and again and again, and her eyes would snap right back open again. Sometimes she could close her eyes without any of that but then she would fall into an odd limbo between sleep and consciousness where she felt like she was falling and falling--and then her body would jolt and she woke up with a startled gasp that burned her throat.

She got no sleep, or at least it felt like that. She wanted so desperately to take a shower that it occurred to her to sneak out of her cell and bribe Miles, who was on the night shift, into taking her out and letting her have one.

Marie didn't move. It didn't seem worth the trouble.

When her door cracked open what must have been an hour or so past midnight, she sat up and reached for anything she could find to defend herself, her heart thumping in her mouth. _No,_ she wanted to say, _not again_ \--but it wasn't them. Of course it wasn't. In the dark, Lou and Reb stood silhouetted by dim lighting in the doorway, Reb straight and a little nervous-looking and Lou slouched against the frame, arms folded.

"What?" Marie's voice rasped on its way out and she shivered, fighting off a wave of nausea that threatened to take her back to the toilet. Being waterboarded wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience and it was almost worse after, because at least in the moment you were confused and hurting and not knowing what was going on do that the seconds that passed you went almost in a blur. After though, there was the headache and the shakes and the coughing and a watery feeling in the back of your throat that Marie really wasn't a hundred percent certain that she wasn't just imagining.

"Come on," Lou said lazily, jerking her head back in the direction that led out of the cell.

Marie didn't speak, but after a moment in the following silence she realized and remembered that this was a dialogue and no matter how much she didn't want to, she had to keep it going. She finally forced herself to sit up, swallowing thickly when the room spun around her and then righted itself just seconds later. "Is there something you needed?"

"Yeah," Lou said. "We're watching telly while I wait for these fuckin' meds to kick in." She lifted her hand. "Come join us."

Marie looked at Reb and Reb looked back, and she knew that he hadn't told Lou much more than that. Not about his assault, not about her torture. He was just doing what he could to try and help, or his version of help.

And Lou didn't really sound like she was inclined to take no for an answer even over this, the simplest and most inconsequential--to her, anyway--little thing.

With that in mind, Marie forced herself to nod. "I'll be out in a second," she said softly, and watched them go.

It was an olive branch. Clearly reluctantly extended on Lou's part, which meant that Reb had of course been the one to bring it up. But it was that branch all the same and Marie had no one else, not anymore.

She didn't tie her hair up, just brushed it as best she could, then she left her cell and joined them on the couch. There was nothing particularly exciting on the television at this time of night and thanks to the limited channels put into effect by Ann Reynolds to reduce costs, but the two to her right were barely paying attention to the 24/7 news channel anyway, too busy nuzzling each other and giggling to themselves.

Marie listened to that, and to the tiny and distant sound of the TV, curling her legs up underneath herself and sliding over so that she could rest her head on the arm of the couch.

The bright glare of the screen faded, and so did the voices to her side, and eventually there was nothing.

Marie closed her eyes and slept, and dreamed only of Danny, and bright warmth and laughter, a life on the outside away from the hell that was Wentworth.

When she woke up, there was a blanket pulled over her. The TV was still running and it was still dark and quiet, and Lou laid across from her, Reb curled up tight against her side, his head on her chest.

Marie watched them until Lou's eyes flickered and opened, looking across to her. Marie flinched a little at the steely, protective glare she earned. "Problem?"

"No," she said, maybe a little too quickly. Lou's gaze lost its harsh intensity just like that. "Sorry."

Lou squinted at her. "What happened to you?" Her voice was kept to a whisper to keep Reb from stirring, not that it seemed likely--the poor boy looked entirely out of it, dead asleep. Marie felt a jolt of envy over how peaceful he seemed and then reminded herself that it was just earlier today that she had found him and Critter, and the moment he woke up that peace would be over again.

"Nothing important," Marie said.

Lou snorted incredulously. "You were talking in your sleep." Marie's blood ran cold. "'Danny, Danny, don't play in the street, Danny...'"

Marie relaxed. Not Allie, then. "Oh. Did I bother you?"

"No," Lou said, shrugging it off. "Just sounded kind of intense."

"Yeah," Marie said, and felt the dry pinpricks in her throat. "My dreams usually are. Do you want a cuppa?"

"If you're serving," Lou said dryly. Marie forced her stiff limbs into movement, quietly cracking her knuckles on the way to the kitchenette to soothe some of the soreness from her hands.

"Sugar," Lou said behind her when Marie had retrieved cups from the cabinet and set to work. Her voice was so unexpectedly close that Marie startled and dropped one of them, cringing in on herself waiting for the inevitable crash of sound only to realize that Lou had caught it, finger hooked around the handle.

"Jesus," Lou laughed. "Bit fuckin' jumpy, aren't ya?"

Marie swallowed and regretted it. The fiery sensation of needles scraping against the back of her throat had intensified. "I didn't want to wake him up," she said, which wasn't a lie. She turned her back to Lou and made the tea in a silence Lou allowed her until she finally turned around to hand off her cup with added sugar.

"So," Lou said, blowing at the surface of her drink, "you gonna tell me what happened or not? I'll figure it out anyway."

"You mean Reb?" Marie asked, a little surprised, and then at the look that came across Lou's face, realized that it was a mistake.

"...No," Lou said. "I mean you." She sounded suspicious.

It all faded when Marie, in a last attempt to preserve the relationship between the two the way she understood Reb wanted, said, "I was waterboarded I think."

She didn't think, she knew, but it was strange to put a name to it, strange to consider it torture. She would have preferred to call it a little incident. A small forgettable mistake.

But it wasn't.

Lou stared at her. "Uh," she said, and Marie knew the feeling. "...Shit. You go to medical?"

Marie shook her head. It was a stupid question and they both knew it. "I'm all right. Really."

"Shouldn't you be resting or something? Fuck."

"I didn't know you cared so much about me, Lou," Marie said with a pointed little smile she had to force, because she'd always had a habit of resorting to flirting and teasing in times of distress when she couldn't do anything else. It had gone a little in these walls, because the chances of being attacked in the showers if you flirted with someone was astronomically high, whether it was the person themselves or one of their lovers whom they'd tattled to.

Lou rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said. "Go lay down with your tea. I'll get you a pillow."

The absurdity of that struck Marie only by the time she had made her way back to the couch and Lou was reemerging from her cell with that pillow in hand. When Marie looked at her she gave a dismissive shrug and flung the pillow at her head. "Reb's warmin' up to ya. I can tell. Doesn't happen often."

And that, apparently, was all it took.

Marie wrapped the blanket around herself and curled up against the arm of the couch again, taking a sip of her tea. It was almost too warm, but the sensation soothed her throat and made her feel a little less cold in general, so she did it again and turned her eyes to the TV.

"Who was it?" Lou asked.

Marie didn't look away from the screen, even though its brightness was giving her a bit of a headache. "No one important." The lie felt like death.

"Yeah, yeah. No one important, nothing important. I'm gonna keep asking 'til you tell me, Winter. You know that."

"I don't see why," she said. "It's none of your business."

"Yeah. It is."

"How do you figure?"

"You're my business. I'm not gonna have any one of these cunts in here attacking you when you're gonna be working for me."

"Well, it won't happen again. It's over, and I'm fine." Marie chanced a glance at Lou over the rim of her cup. "Best to leave it at that."

"Yeah." Lou shifted her gaze away back to the reporter on the screen. "Maybe."

She didn't sound convinced, and like most things lately, it filled Marie with a quiet, creeping dread.

_...a giraffe escaped from Melbourne Zoo early this evening and held up traffic for a little over two hours..._

Lou snickered down the way. "What the fuck," she whispered.

Marie didn't realize it until she had to go for a sip of her tea, but she'd started smiling.


End file.
